Majority of E-Reader Owners Are Well Educated, Have Higher Incomes

U.S. adults who own e-readers are also heavy Internet users, according to MRI.

By Chandra Johnson-Greene
Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Magazine publishers may want target their future e-reader strategies on their more affluent audiences.

The approximately 2.1 million U.S. adults who own electronic book readers are 87 percent more likely than the average adult to have household incomes of $100,000 or more annually and are 111 percent more likely to have a bachelor’s or post-graduate degree, according to recent data from Mediamark Research & Intelligence (MRI). E-reader owners are 11 percent more likely than the average adult to own their own home.

Adults that own e-readers are also more likely to be heavy Internet users. In fact, they are 199 percent more likely to access the Internet outside of the home via WiFI or wireless connection during a 30-day period and are 154 percent more likely to have access the Internet using a cell phone or other mobile device.

“Clearly, users of the current generation of e-readers are highly educated, upscale and Internet savvy,” Anne Marie Kelly, SVP, marketing & strategic planning, MRI, said in a statement. “With Sony preparing to ship its Reader Daily Edition and Barnes & Noble [recently launching] its Nook product, it will be interesting to see how quickly e-books catch on in greater numbers with the more mainstream population.”

Conde Nast, which publishes titles mostly aimed at the affluent, recently announced its own initiative to build a magazine application (in a partnership with Adobe) that will enable the company to deploy its magazines on a number of digital devices, including e-readers. The first product will be a prototype of Wired, which will launch in spring 2010. Other titles will follow later in the year.

PROFILE OF U.S. ELECTRONIC BOOK-READER OWNERS

Percent More Likely Than Average U.S. Adult to:

• Have accessed the Internet outside the home via WiFi or wireless connection (in last 30 days): 199 percent
• Have household income of $100,000 or more annually: 87 percent
• Have accessed the Internet with a cell phone or other mobile device (in last 30 days): 154 percent
• Be a heavy internet user: 116 percent
• Have a bachelor’s or post-graduate degree: 111 percent
• Be between the ages of 35-54: 20 percent
• Be male: 16 percent

Source: MRI's Fall 2009 Survey of the American Consumer